Cephalopods — Cuttlefish, Squid and Octopus

This group of creatures lacks allure. They all look like bags with heads on top and eight or ten tentacles sprouting therefrom. But they can be very good eating if properly prepared, and the art of doing this is probably more advanced in the Mediterranean than anywhere else in the world.

Of all the molluscs these, I believe, are the only ones with a centralized nervous system: and the big heads cover real brains. Very interesting experiments are being conducted by British scientists at Naples on the ability of the octopus to learn and to remember. At the aquarium I was shown tanks in which 250 octopus can be housed for this purpose, and ingenious perspex constructions in which they can be taught to select rough rather than smooth, and so on.